I will order a new VESA mount model of the 27" base model 3.2 Ghz machine with the stock 8GB RAM and probably order another 8GB to put in it.

And as a grad student I qualify for edu pricing.

Originally I planned on getting a 1TB Fusion Drive.

My iTunes library is external.
My iPhoto library is internal and used to be on the HDD of my old setup.
My digital filing cabinet is internal and also use to be on the HDD.
The iPhoto library is 98GB and the file database is 1/2 GB.
Of course the OS and all my Apps and home folder were on the SSD before.

Percentage wise the SSD was more full as it was a 256, but the HDD was ridiculously empty.

Like I said I had planned on getting a 1TB Fusion drive.
For the same price as the 1TB Fusion I can get a 256GB SSD which echoes my older setup without an internal HDD, but pushes me over 50% full with my iPhoto library, OS, Apps, and home folder. But it also give me more SSD space. Or for another $270 I can get a 512GB SSD.

Can anyone chime in on how well the Fusion works and whether you would recommend the:

1TB Fusion
256GB SSD
512GB SSD ($270 extra).

Yes I know the Fusion is already an upgrade, but considering my prior setup, it is the lowest config I am willing to go with, as I don't want to run my OS on a traditional drive.

While I currently don't have your storage requirements, I will in the future and I have factored this as well as performance in my order.

I have chosen a 256 gig SSD. Internally there are two drive ports available. A pcle for a pcle ssd or fusion drive and the old ata for hdd or a ssd.

For reasons of performance I am only settling for ssd. The internal ata port allows for a second ssd which is my plan down the track. Also don't forget the external usb 3 and thunderbolt ports are going to also provide fast speeds.

From how you like to organise things (most stuff on external) the SSDs are good choices.

I opted for the 256GB, mainly because i like to have my media on an external drive so it can be shared elsewhere. If i liked everything in one place, 256 and 512 would soon be too small for my needs.

I have my photos setup slightly different, i use aperture and i only keep caches and meta data on the internal SSD. This uses around 35GB for a library that is roughly 200-300GB in size.

If you ever decided to install bootcamp you need at least 30GB partition only if you install the programs on an external USB 3 drive, or else you need more like 60-100GB.

256GB therefore can become a little tight quickly if you do have your iphoto library on there and bootcamp.

512GB is the safe choice but you still have to have the mentality to store most data externally.

I see the internal 7200rpm drive isnt a class leader, around 130MB/Sec. My Buffalo external DDR drives go well past 200MB/Sec in blackmagic and are healthy performers outside of caching achieve around 150MB/Sec and higher.

I survived 2 years and even now with a 128GB SSD in my MBA, i'm sure i will cope with 256GB in my iMac. So far with all my apps installed i have used 19GB. My aperture library takes this down to 200GB free but this will reduce as my Aperture cache gets bigger. Everything else is external. But i will be installing bootcamp at some point and giving it 30GB. My games will go on an external USB 3 drive. You have a similar storage mentality to me so 256GB is a good bet, 512GB is a safe bet.

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